The present application relates to winding coils of wire onto poles of dynamo-electric cores. More particularly, the coils are wound directly into the slots of cores by means of needles which dispense wires. The wires are each drawn from tensioners.
During winding, relative motions occur between the needles and the core in order to deliver the wires and wind them around the poles. The shapes of the slots are defined by the contours of the poles. Such motions are similar to those described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,289. The ""289 patent, and any other patents mentioned herein, is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety.
It would be desirable to provide a winding apparatus capable of rotational and translational movements with respect to the core while stratifying the wire along the poles of the core.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a winding apparatus preferably capable of rotational, translational and radial movements with respect to the poles of the core. This stratification movement can be considered to be a radial movement that moves the winding needle along the radial extension of the poles. This stratification allows for pre-determined placement of the wire. Pre-determined placement of the wire preferably results in deeper and denser winding of wire.
A winder for winding wires onto a coil support portion of a dynamo-electric core is provided. The winder has a central longitudinal axis and includes a plurality of needles, each needle for dispensing a wire, a plurality of support members, each member supporting a single one of the plurality of needles, a first assembly for producing translational movement of the members along the axis, a second assembly for producing relative rotational movement of the plurality of members with respect to the core, and a third assembly for producing radial movement of each of the members perpendicular to the axis. The operation of the third assembly is substantially independent of the operation of the second assembly.
In another embodiment of the invention, the winder includes a single needle for dispensing the wire and a first assembly, the first assembly including a winding shaft. The needle is preferably constrained to move translationally with the shaft. The first assembly is for producing translational movement of the shaft along the axis. The winder also includes a second assembly for producing rotational movement of the needle about the axis and a third assembly including a drive member movably coupled to the winding shaft. Furthermore, relative rotation between the drive member and the winding shaft produces radial movement of the needle. In addition, the third assembly produces radial movement substantially independently of the rotational movement provided by the second assembly.